One thousand Blair County students will be habitually truant this year. Of that 1,000, 750 of them will drop out entirely. It’s an issue local leaders say can only be fixed with the help of the community.
“If we don’t keep kids in school, it has a cost,” said Judge Jolene Kopriva.
Kopriva sits at a roundtable with other county leaders every other month to address the issue: What are we going to do about the kids?
“We have to think about it: it’s not those kids, it’s our kids,” she said.
She said the number one reason for truancy in Blair County is poverty, and it’s getting worse specifically in the Altoona and Spring Cove School Districts.
“From 2000 to 2013 our poverty in Blair County has grown dramatically,” Kopriva said. “Forty-five percent of our children qualify for the free or reduced lunch program and live in poverty.”
Some kids are teased. Others don’t have parental supervision. Kopriva said dropping out often leads to a life of crime, even it its only misdemeanors.
“There is a correlation between students who drop out, do not have an education, do not have a good method of earning a living,” Kopriva said.
The backpack program and Act 360 are just a couple of community programs that help keep kids on the right track.
“We have been able to expand a program that works, helping kids prove their attendance within school districts throughout Blair County,” said Evolution Counseling Services Clinical Director Jeff Colbert. “It’s called ACT 360 and work with their families also in terms of how those attendance issues affect family functioning and whatnot.”
“It’s really helping to address truancy within the home,” Kopriva said.
Kopriva said it is simple economics. So, which would you rather pay for?
“Hundred-sixty dollars a year to have a child in school,” Kopriva said. “It costs $31,000 a year to house someone in prison.”
Kopriva said all of the Blair County superintendents are working on solidifying one definition of “truancy” by the end of May. That way, they can narrow down which kids need help in staying in school and keeping them on the right track to graduate.
